Just because it has gears and a bowler derby doesn't mean it's "steam punk"

Here's a poster I just made for a Charlie Chaplin screening this Sunday.

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I really enjoyed working on this. This was my first poster that I made in Illustrator. I did use Photoshop for some color work and a bit of layout though. But all of the elements were made in Illustrator. I love how clean the lines are. I tried to challenge myself and use the pen tool for all of Chaplin, but hit a few trouble spots, so I used the brush tool there. The gears were all done with using simple line shapes, the star tool, and the pathfinder. I did have a bit of a struggle with the colors. That's always the way it goes though. The more simple it looks, the longer it took to get there.

I was extremely pleased with how well Chaplin came across as a caricature with so few lines. I feel like I'm really improving artistically. Here's the original Chaplin drawings so you can see the progression of the caricature. Simplifying it each time.

First drawing

Second drawing

Final drawing

Here are my original composition notes/scribbles.

For the text, I basically just used the original font and style of one of the original posters from 1936.

I didn't want too look at too many other posters for inspiration though. The gears weren't really a swipe though. Damn near every Modern Times poster you'll find though features gears. From international posters, to local cinemateuqe posters, to the Criterion Collection cover. The gears are just the iconic symbol of the film.

This should be a really cool event. Of course I'm always for what Cinefamily has going on, but this is with a great new group called Rabbit Hole Screenings. I'm really behind what these guys are about. They offer film education for middle and high school students who have had little exposure to the movies. They screen classic films from the silent movie era through the 1980's and then discuss and debate them. This screening on Sunday is a part of a huge community service event in SoCal called Big Sunday. Here's the info on the screening. Come check it out if you're in the area!

"Created from your dreeeeeams"

Went down to the Cinefamily to check out a screening presented by those found footage ghouls, Everything Is Terrible, and dear God, was the feature ever terrible! An abysmal direct-to-video assault on the eyes and ears called Creating Rem Lezar. Since I'm too terrified to sleep, for fear of a blue mullet man coming to tuck me in, I decided to ink and color this goofy caricature of the film's titular character, Rem Lezar.

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This is Rem Lezar. He lives in your nightmares and the Vegas odds have it at 2:1 that he's a pedo. Seriously, the following is a direct quote from the opening song. "Part of the joy that I get from this boy is his innocent laugh and style" Here's a link to the movie on youtube if you actually wanna see something...well...terrible!

Here's a still from the
film
video.


Being the curious guy that I am, I of course had to look up any information I could find on this wreck. Turns out that the actor that plays Rem Lezar (Jack Mulcahy) has his own Wikipedia entry. The damn thing is only 2 sentences long! But what really cracks my ass up is that according to this entry, the highlight of his "career" was singing a goddamn Snickers candy bar jingle in 2006!!!

Anyway, here's a scan of of the sketches I made during the movie.

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I think these actually look better than the inked and colored version above. Man, I really need to get better with Adobe Illustrator.

"Wanna be a member? Wanna be a member?"

Here's a poster I designed for the Jerry Beck's next Animation Tuesday at The Cinefamily.

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I was really excited to do this poster. Max Fleischer cartoons are some of my very favorites. If you're familiar with my work, you'll definitely see the influence. I just love those simple yet stylish designs of the 1930s.
For those who don't know, Jerry Beck is an animation historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of cartoons. He's written many books on animation, many of which I read when I was a kid. He also co-runs Cartoon Brew. I drew a caricature of him in the center in the style of Fleischer's strange human/dog hybrid creatures (like the original Betty Boop). If you're in the LA area, definitely come check this one out. Getting to see these gems on the big screen in 35mm will be a real treat! Details and tickets are at the Cinefamily website.

Here comes cartoons!

Here's a flier I made at the Los Angeles Animation Festival at Cinefamily to promote Jerry Beck's Animation Tuesdays. Jerry is an animation historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of cartoons. He also co-runs Cartoon Brew. Every first Tuesday of the month, he screens some real gems of animation. If you're in the LA area, definitely check out one of the screenings. Next month will feature Max Fleischer shorts! More info on Cinefamily website.